Men's Bowerman Watch List Released

Men's Track & Field (O)

Men's Bowerman Watch List Released

NEW ORLEANS - The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Thursday the 10 male collegiate track & field athletes named to the official preseason watch list for the 2010 awarding of The Bowerman as selected by The Bowerman Men's Watch Committee. Included in the preseason watch list are 2009 Bowerman finalists Ashton Eaton of the University of Oregon and German Fernandez of Oklahoma State University.

In addition to the 10 listed in the preseason watch list, five others were listed as also receiving mention and will be considered for future official watch lists.

The Bowerman Advisory Board appointed four of its members to comprise The Bowerman Men's Watch Committee and another four of its members to make up The Bowerman Women's Watch Committee. The committee will release its next list, using only marks from the 2010 season, on Tuesday, February 9, with updates occurring during the first Tuesday of each month leading to the final watch lists on Tuesday, June 7, the week of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Watch lists will also be released on March 16 to coincide with the conclusion of the indoor season and May 18 to mark the ending of the outdoor conference season. The three men and three women finalists will be named on June 15.

For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the recently-debuted trophy, and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org. Keep up with Bowerman candidates on the USTFCCCA's weekly results page (http://www.ustfccca.org/weekly-results) and by following the organization's twitter feed twitter.com/USTFCCCA.

Anderson is the reigning two-time NCAA 400-meter hurdle champion, having clocked his career best 48.47 in the finals of the 2009 NCAA Championships. Anderson is also a two-time Pac-10 Champion in the long hurdles and also competes in the open 400-meter dash and as part of the Cougar 4x400-meter relay team. In 2008, Anderson won the USATF Junior Championship in the 400-meter hurdles and later won the IAAF World Junior Championship in the same event in Poland.

Anderson was also a member of the Washington State football team as a wide receiver. Previous to Anderson leaving the team in September 2009 to concentrate on track conditioning, Anderson played in two games and caught four passes for 66 yards including a 44-yard reception versus Hawaii.

A newcomer to the Oklahoma program, Ronnie Ash arrives in Norman as the nation's top-ranked collegiate hurdler having won the 2009 NCAA titles in the 60- and 110-meter hurdles. The junior from Raleigh, N.C., was a three-time MEAC Champion while at Bethune-Cookman and earned three All-America honors as well.

In 2009, Chelanga caught attention on the track by breaking the collegiate record at 10,000 meters, running 27:28.48 to break the 2007 mark of Bowerman winner Galen Rupp. Chelanga, also the NCAA Cross Country Champion this past fall, is the nation's top returner on the track indoors at 5,000 meters and outdoors at 10,000 meters, placing second at last year's NCAA indoor meet at 5k and third at the NCAA outdoor meet at 10k.

As a 17-year-old freshman in 2009, Will Claye finished second nationally in the triple jump, breaking the Oklahoma program record in the process and was third in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships. After a successful indoor season, Claye continued his progression during the outdoor season breaking the Oklahoma program record and a 27-year-old American Junior Record en route to the NCAA triple jump title on his 18th birthday. Claye also added a USATF Junior triple jump title and the Pan-Am Junior Championships triple jump title. Claye was undefeated throughout the NCAA outdoor season, winning every triple jump competition he was entered in.

Colwick pulled the NCAA indoor-outdoor double championship win with the pole vault in 2009. At the outdoor national championship, Colwick cleared 18-8¼ (5.70m) and was one of only two in the competition to clear more than 18 feet. Colwick also attempted to better the 1996 NCAA-meet record with tries at 19-1½ (5.83m). At the indoor NCAA meet, Colwick was the only competitor to clear a bar over 18 feet with a winning effort at 18-4½ (5.60m). Colwick cleared his personal best of 18-9¼ (5.72m) at the 2009 Texas Relays in a winning effort.

During the previous track & field season, Eaton, a 2009 Bowerman finalist, became the first athlete in NCAA history to win national titles in both the indoor heptathlon and outdoor decathlon. Eaton broke the 8,000-point barrier in the decathlon in each of his three decathlon competitions, tallying a season's best 8,241-point wind-aided total at the NCAA Championships. Eaton scored 6,174 points in the seven-event heptathlon at the Washington Invitational in January, recording the all-time second-best, all-conditions performance by a collegian.

Over the summer, Eaton placed second at the USATF Championships with another 8,000-point-plus performance, earning him a berth on Team USA for the IAAF World Championships in Berlin. Eaton's streak of 8,000-plus performances stands at seven, dating back to the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

The 2009 Bowerman finalist enters the 2010 campaign as just a sophomore. As a freshman, Fernandez had a tremendous year. He started the season by blazing to a 3:56.50 mile in his first collegiate track race at the Razorback Invitational in January. Then, a month later, Fernandez continued to amaze, setting an all-time collegiate record along with World and American junior records in the mile with a 3:55.02 clocking to capture his first Big 12 Conference crown. Outdoors, Fernandez pulled off the 1500-, 5000-meter double win at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock and won his first NCAA title at 1500 meters in running a season-best 3:39.00 at the national championships.

Fernandez opted not to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2009, instead choosing to represent America at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan.

Holliday, the proven speedster, claimed the NCAA outdoor 100-meter title in 2009 after clocking a personal-best 10.00 in both the heats and the final round. Holliday earned the title "World's Fastest Football Player" with the personal best, claiming the fastest time ever recorded by a football player. Holliday also anchored the 4x100-meter relay team to a runner-up performance at the NCAA outdoor meet, accounting for 12 of LSU's 37 team points (fifth place). Indoors, Holliday was second at the NCAA meet at 60 meters, running a 6.55 in the final. Overall, Holliday is a four-time SEC Champion. Holliday has only indoor eligibility for the 2010 season.

On the Tiger football team, Holliday was listed as a wide receiver, but was a return specialist. Prior to this year's Capital One Bowl, Holliday led the SEC and was ranked second in the country with a 17.7-yard punt return average. Holliday took a punt return 87 yards for a touchdown, helping LSU defeat Arkansas.

As one of the nation's most exciting 800 meter runners at all levels, Wheating earned his first two NCAA titles in 2009 and was an integral part of Oregon's near-triple crown in 2008-09. He was the 2009 NCAA Outdoor champion at 800 meters and the NCAA Indoor 800 meter runner-up. He also ran the 800-meter leg on Oregon's NCAA Indoor Champion and school record-setting distance medley relay team. Overall, Wheating is a four-time All-American, a two-time Pac-10 champion at 800 meters, and a Pac-10 scorer in both cross country and at 1,500 meters. His 800 meter runner-up performance to clinch an Olympic berth remains one of the indelible moments of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials. Wheating is also the first native of Vermont to run a sub-4:00 mile.

Ryan Whiting returns for his senior season and will look to defend both of his national titles won in the shot put last season after capturing his second-consecutive NCAA indoor crown and his first-ever outdoor title. As a junior, he automatically qualified for three events at the NCAA Championships and finished in the top two in all three, adding a runner-up finish in the discus at the outdoor championships. The indoor collegiate record holder with a heave of 71-3½ (21.73m), Whiting has won back-to-back shot put crowns after throwing 66-1¾ (20.16m) to win the 2009 title. He followed that win up by finishing first in every shot put competition entered during the 2009 outdoor collegiate season, culminating with a winning toss of 65-11.75 (20.11m) at the national meet. An ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, Whiting finished the 2009 season with the No. 10 mark in the world in the shot put and fifth among American competitors with his school-record toss of 68-10½ (20.99m) while his top discus mark of 199-3 (60.73m), which, like the shot put, broke a 27 year-old school record, ranked as the 11th-best among Americans in 2009.